The League of Polish Families (Polish: Liga Polskich Rodzin, , LPR) is a social conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. ("extreme right") The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement which was headed by Roman Dmowski, however, in 2006 its leader Roman Giertych distanced himself from that heritage.http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/wyborcza/1,34591,3484547.html|tytuł=Dmowskiego do Ligi bym nie przyjął|opublikowany=gazeta.pl
It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński until the latter dissolved in September 2007. In the 2007 parliamentary election, it failed to gain the 5% threshold required to enter the Sejm and lost all its seats, even failing to cross the 3% threshold for eligibility to receive government funding. Since then, the party has become a minor political force, but continues to exist.
The All-Polish Youth used to be affiliated with the party as its youth wing, but these two organisations later severed their relations.
History The LPR was created just before the elections in 2001 and gained 8% of the vote, giving it 38 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and two seats in the Senate. Its former leader, Roman Giertych, studied Law and History at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. During his career his political alliances have included such Polish National Democrats as Jan Łopuszański, Antoni Macierewicz, Gabriel Janowski.
Roman Giertych reactivated the "All-Polish Youth" (Młodzież Wszechpolska) organisation in 1989, becoming its chairman; he remains honorary chairman. For several years he was a member of the National-Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne) and the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe), which merged with several other organisations to form the League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) in 2001.
Roman Giertych's father, Maciej Giertych, also a member of LPR, is a former member of the European Parliament. His grandfather was a member of parliament of the Second Polish Republic prior to World War II from the National Democracy Party. Some sources claim that the LPR owes much of its success to Radio Maryja, a Catholic radio station with a nationalist, ultra-conservative agenda.
The performance of League of Polish Families in the September 2001 elections, has been partly attributed to its well publicized and uncompromising attitude towards the Jedwabne pogrom. During the election campaign Ryszard Bender, one of the LPR founders and leaders, participated in LPR television broadcasts denying the facts of the Jedwabne pogrom of 1941 and accusing President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who participated in commemoration ceremony, that took place in the village of Jedwabne in July 2001, of bowing to Jewish interest groups.
Soon after the election in 2001 a group of deputies separated from LPR, creating a new party known now as Polish Agreement led by Jan Łopuszański and Catholic-National Movement (Ruch Katolicko-Narodowy) led by Antoni Macierewicz.
In the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, LPR received 15,2% votes, which gave it 10 out of 54 seats reserved for Poland in the European Parliament. This made the LPR the second-largest party in Poland in that election, second only to the liberal conservative Civic Platform (PO), and well ahead of the then ruling post-communist Democratic Left Alliance, the populist Samoobrona and the conservative Law and Justice (PiS). However, the overall turnout of that election was less than 20% of eligible voters. Thus, the long-term significance of the LPR's strong performance in that election is unclear. In the 2005 elections, LPR again received 8% of votes, but saw its seats reduced from 38 to 34. However, it gained five seats in the Senate, taking it up to seven.
The 2005 election produced no clear winner, producing a political gridlock and a possibility of new elections. The two largest parties, PiS and PO, entered negotiations in order to form a "grand coalition". The PiS-PO coalition was supported by 44% of PiS voters and 78% of PO voters. However, PO broke off negotiations - PO complained that although PiS offered it half of the Polish 16 ministries, none of them included the so-called "power-ministries" (interior, justice and secret services), which led to fears that PiS would abuse its control over the Polish justice system. PO also noted that PiS had been shifting to the left economically, whereas PO was staunchly neoliberal.
Ultimately, PiS settled down for a minority government, composed entirely of PiS members. However, the party began losing popular support in 2006, which eventually forced it to form a "stabilization pact" with League of Polish Families and Samoobrona. All three parties were, to varying degrees, socially conservative and economically left-leaning. For its part, LPR demanded the withdrawal of the Polish army from Iraq, renegotiation of the EU accession treaty, as well as "pro-family" economic policy.
However, the coalition broke down in August 2007 - PiS sought to "neutralize" LPR and Samoobrona, aware of a significant overlap between the voter bases of all parties involved. To this end, PiS arranged a sting operation against the leader of Samoobrona, Andrzej Lepper, in order to expose his supposed bribery. The plot failed, and PiS expelled Samoobrona from the government. LPR also abandoned the coalition, accusing PiS of abandoning what LPR called the “national-socialist program” that all three parties agreed to in the stabilization pact.
Samoobrona and LPR then joined forces to form a single formation, the League and Self-Defense (LiS). Initially, LiS was seen positively by the press and the electorate - political scientist Andrzej Rychard argued that it had a chance to become "a better PiS", outflank on left-wing economic appeal, and attract voters nostalgic towards communism. In the summer of 2007, LiS was polling as much as 23%. However, the formation rapidly declined in polls as Samoobrona and LPR clashed with each other, which led to dissolution of LiS in September 2007.
Ultimately, Samoobrona and LPR ran separately. In the 2007 Parliamentary election, both parties failed to gain the 5% of votes required to enter the Sejm and lost all its seats, in addition to failing meeting the 3% of votes requirement for eligibility to receive government funding. The leader of LPR, Roman Giertych, stepped down from his post as the party's leader, while Lepper died in 2011. The left-wing populist appeal of Samoobrona was taken and consolidated by PiS. Likewise, PiS "neutralized" LPR by appropriating its Catholic nationalist rhetoric and sociocultural stances.
Some present or former members of LPR (including Janusz Dobrosz) and five of its MEPs moved to Forward Poland in 2008/9.
In the 2010s, the party became more moderate and changed its attitude towards the European Union. In parliamentary and presidential elections, it usually supports the candidates of the Civic Platform or the Polish People's Party. In 2019, LPR declared its accession to the European Coalition. Roman Giertych is an active politician in the ruling coalition, and has stated successfully ran for the Sejm in the 2023 Polish parliamentary election as part of the Civic Coalition.
Ideology
The party was described as belonging to the populist current in European politics, that juxtaposes the 'simple man' and the 'corrupt elite'.
The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics described the party as clerical-nationalist,'Social Poland'Defeats 'Liberal Poland'? The September–October 2005 Polish Parliamentary and Presidential Elections by Aleks Szczerbiak. In: Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Volume 23, Issue 2 June 2007, pages 203 - 232 the party's agenda combining conservative social values, Christian solidarity and nationalism. Adam Michnik has characterized the groups that formed the party as the heirs of the chauvinist, xenophobic and antisemitic organizations of the pre-war Poland.The Polish Witch-Hunt By Adam Michnik. Available at http://www.hacusa.org/NoticedInThePress/2007/NYRB_062807__Michnik_Adam__Poland.doc ., accessed 23 August 2010. In 2023, the party was described as "Christian Democrat, manifesting their conservatism and attachment to Christian values".
The party takes economically anti-capitalist stances, campaigning on re-nationalization of the Polish economy, promoting welfare programs, and strongly opposing cuts in social spending and taxation. Its economic stances are based on the party's own interpretation of the Catholic social teaching. containing many populist as well as socialist policies and proposals.
Economic issues Economically, the party takes an interventionist and anti-capitalist stance. It is strongly critical of Balcerowicz Plan, the neoliberal economic reforms that transitioned Polish economy to free-market capitalism in the 1990s. LPR argues that it enrichened very few, creating oligarchs in Poland who formed local "capital empires", called "children of Balcerowicz" by the party. The party contrasts them with the 'victims of Balcerowicz', such as the farmers, unemployed, poor and disadvantaged, who were "robbed by Balcerowicz financial politics". The party supports economic interventionism and nationalization of the economy - it is strongly opposed to privatization and cuts in social welfare, and calls for expelling foreign firms and capital from the Polish economy. LPR called for nationalization of several economic sectors such as the banking, energy, oil, mining, telecommunication and transport industries. It denounced privatization, especially of sectors such as insurance and healthcare, denouncing such proposals as social Darwinism and "Neo-Malthusianism".
According to political scientists Tomasz Zarycki and George Kolankiewicz, LPR holds "objectively left-wing views on issues such as privatisation, state intervention in the economy and redistribution of wealth", combined with "strong opposition to Polish EU membership and, more generally, a nationalist and anti-cosmopolitan worldview." Similarly, Oliver Kossack argued that LPR is "clearly positioned on the left end of the socio-economic spectrum". Some also called LPR the "national left", which was also a classification applied to Samoobrona.
The party supports for the "defense of Polish property" through nationalization of most Polish industries, development of domestic agriculture via state intervention and protectionist measures, as well as creating a economy that would prioritize care for Polish families and the homeless. It claims to be a voice of the disadvantaged groups that became the "losers" of socioeconomic changes in Poland, caused by globalization, privatization and austerity. LPR rejects capitalism as a system that causes the "McDonaldization of the planet"; it also condemns neoliberalism and the tradition of economic liberalism in general as "lumpenliberalism" that is characterized by consumptionism and hedonism rather than serving the needs of the poor and disadvantaged. It postulates the creation of an extensive system of welfare and social protection. Political scientist Tim Bale described LPR as an overtly anti-capitalist party, and Ashley Timidaiski considers the economic ideology of the LPR to be a combination of populism and socialism.